STS PRELIM Notes (Comprehensive)

Grading and Course Structure

  • Major Exam: 50%
  • Minor Assessments: 50%
    • Unit Test: 15%
    • Quiz: 15%
    • Seatwork/Assignment: 10%
    • Project: 10%
  • Prelim (15%): Part of Major/Minor split above? Note shows prelim 15% and finals 5% in a combined grading scheme; totals given as Major 50% and Minor 50%.
  • A provided Grade Calculator will be given to compute final marks.

Class Requirements

  • Attendance: Don’t be ABSENT! Don’t be LATE!
  • Grace period: up to 10-15 minutes.
  • Nametag: Surname printed and laminated on plain white paper, Arial font, size 65, bold, capital letters.
  • Failure to wear nametag marks you as absent.

Reference Book

  • Science, Technology and Society
  • Authors/Editors listed: John Miller A. Casas, et al.
  • STS PRELIM general reference material

Topics Covered Throughout the Course

  • PRELIMS topics:
    • Historical Antecedents of Science and Technology
    • Intellectual Revolutions that Changed Worldview
    • Science and Technology and Nation Building
  • MIDTERMS topics:
    • Human Flourishing and Science and Technology
    • Technology as a Way of Revealing The Good Life
    • Technology and the Future of Humanity
  • FINALS topics (The Information Age):
    • Current Issues on Social Media
    • Biodiversity and the Health Society
    • Genetic Engineering
    • Stem cell therapy
    • The Nano World
    • Climate Change and the Energy Crisis

Definition of Terms

  • Science: Latin scienctia = “knowledge”.
  • Technology: Greek technē = “art/craft”; logos = “word/speech”.
  • Society: Latin societas = “fellowship/association”.
  • Science: human attempt to understand the natural world, with or without immediate practical use; lead to facts and relationships to form theories.
  • Technology: human attempt to change the world by creating tools and machines.
  • Relationship: Science seeks knowledge; Technology seeks to apply knowledge to make things useful.

Historical Antecedents of Science and Technology

  • Ancient Ages | Middle Ages | Modern Ages (Overview sheets for each period)
  • Key idea: human curiosity, methods, and tools evolved across civilizations to shape knowledge, tools, and institutions.

Ancient Ages

  • Summary Part 1/8; Key Notes and Antecedents grouped by civilization.
  • Ancient Sumerian (Iraq):
    • Name meaning: "Black Headed People" (Sag-gíg / ùĝ saĝ gíg ga).
    • MAJOR CONTRIBUTIONS:
    • Cuneiform – earliest writing system (ca. 3000 BC)
    • Clay tablets
    • Sailboats for trade
    • Wheel (transportation, pottery) around 3200 BC
    • Irrigation systems with levees/flood banks for Tigris-Euphrates floods
    • Plow for soil digging and breaking hard soil
    • Lunar Calendar with months named after agricultural events (approx. 354 days)
  • Babylonian Civilization:
    • Gates of the Gods; Nimrod as a Great Warrior who built Babylon
    • MAJOR CONTRIBUTIONS:
    • Lunar Calendar standardized month names; year ~360 days with intercalary months
    • Sundials
    • Water clocks
    • Hanging Gardens of Babylon (discussed with uncertainty about exact location; alternative theory to Nineveh)
  • Indus Valley Civilization (Pakistan & NW India):
    • MAJOR CONTRIBUTIONS:
    • Metallurgy (bronze, tin, copper, lead)
    • Handicraft (seal carving, carnelian products)
    • Brick Houses; drainage and water storage systems
    • Writing system; advanced agricultural practices
  • Ancient China:
    • MAJOR CONTRIBUTIONS:
    • Abacus; Acupuncture; Paper; First movable printing press
    • Porcelain; Silk and Sericulture; Silk Road
    • Gunpowder
  • Aegean Civilization / Ancient Greece (Hellas):
    • Key figures: Socrates, Plato, Aristotle; Pythagoras; Thales of Miletus; Hippocrates; Archimedes
    • INVENTIONS & CONCEPTS:
    • Pythagorean Theorem
    • Water clocks (clepsydra); Water mills
    • Aqueducts; Wheel; Odometer
  • Ancient Rome:
    • Pioneers and Contributions:
    • Galen (physician) – described diseases and treatments
    • Aqueducts (Aqua Appia, 312 BC)
    • Concrete; Colosseum; Pantheon; Ballista; Greek Fire
  • Mesoamerica (Maya, Aztec, Inca):
    • Maya: highly accurate astronomical records; Dresden Codex; Calendar Round; Long Count; Codices
    • Aztec: Chinampas (artificial lands); Sun Stone; Nahuatl language
    • Inca: Quechua (official language); Trepanation (cranial surgeries); Quipu (communication device)
  • Africa: Ancient Egypt (Kemet – “Black Land”)
    • MAJOR CONTRIBUTIONS:
    • Shadoof irrigation tool
    • Great Sphinx; Pyramids (Khufu, Khafre, Menkaure)
    • Papyrus (writing surface)
    • Wigs, cosmetics; mats, baskets, rafts, ropes; canal irrigation

Ancient Egypt – Additional Notes

  • Shadoof: irrigation tool used to lift water
  • Papyrus: writing surface; used for documents and communication
  • Architectural feats: pyramids and sphinx as monumental engineering projects

Summary of Ancient Ages (Summary Part 2/8; 3/8; 4/8; 5/8; 6/8; 7/8; 8/8)

  • The summaries list key civilizations, their notes, pioneers, and contributions/antecedents in a compact table-like format; see individual entries above for Sumerians, Babylonians, Indus Valley, Ancient China, Aegean Greece, Ancient Rome, Mesoamerica, and Ancient Africa.

Middle Ages (Dark Ages) and Islamic Golden Age

  • Byzantine Empire (Constantinople) – Handheld Trebuchet; Tidal Mill
  • Islamic Empire – The Golden Age of Islamic Science
    • Pioneers: Ibn Al-Haytham (Alhazen) – Laws of Refraction; Book of Optics; Father of Modern Optics
    • Abu Ali al-Hussein Ibn Sina (Avicenna) – The Canon of Medicine
    • Abu Qasim Khalaf ibn Abbas Al Zahrawi (Al Zahrawi) – Father of Surgery; The Clearance of Medical Science for those Who Cannot Compile It
    • Muhammad ibn MUSA al-Khwarizmi – Algebra; The Compendious Book on Calculation by Completion and Balancing
    • Al-Biruni – Determined Earth’s radius via measurements from Nandana (Pakistan)
    • Jabir ibn Hayyan – Father of Chemistry; starch vs mulberry bark; House of Wisdom
  • Medieval Europe – Carolingian Renaissance; Charlemagne – Father of Europe; spread Christianity; universities (Studium Generale)
    • Pioneers & Contributions: Roger Bacon – Scientific Method (Opus Majus, steps: observation, hypothesis, experimentation)
    • 13th Century: Alchemy and Astrology
    • 12th Century: Translators (Averroes, William of Moerbeke) of Aristotle
    • 11th-13th Century: Three-field system; fallow farming; crossbow; Dane axe; windmills; magnets; spinning wheel
    • 8th Century: Charlemagne/Carolingian Renaissance – revival of classical knowledge; legacy
  • The Crusades (11th Century) – Crossbow; masonry; cross-cultural exchange; impact on Europe and the Middle East

Modern Ages – Renaissance and Scientific Revolution

  • Renaissance (14th–17th c.)
    • Petrarch (humanism); Leonardo da Vinci (Mona Lisa; Vitruvian Man; The Last Supper); Michelangelo (Sistine Chapel ceiling); Raphael (School of Athens; Sistine Madonna)
  • Scientific Revolution – Key Figures and Discoveries
    • Nicolaus Copernicus – Heliocentric theory; De Revolutions Orbium Coelestium (On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres)
    • Galileo Galilei – Observations with telescope supporting heliocentrism
    • Johannes Kepler – Elliptical orbits; Kepler’s laws
    • Tycho Brahe – Tychonic system; precise astronomical observations
    • Isaac Newton – Laws of motion; universal gravitation; synthesis of heliocentrism evidence
    • Christopher Columbus – “Discovery” of the New World; navigational advances
    • Henry VIII’s Great Harry – Mariner’s tools; compass; quadrant; wheelbarrow; wooden tracks
  • Industrial Revolution – Transformations in production
    • Iron and steel: Carbon content and alloying (Toebn Bergman? Bergman’s work on carbon in steel)
    • Bessemer process – convert pig iron to steel via oxidation; BOF (basic oxygen furnace) later used for refining steel
    • Textile Industry – Flying Shuttle (John Kay); Spinning Jenny (James Hargreaves); Water Frame (Richard Arkwright); Spinning Mule (Crompton); Power Loom (Cartwright); Cotton Gin (Whitney); mechanized sewing (Saint); Chain Stitch (Thimonnier)
    • Transportation – James Watt (steam engine); Mathew Boulton; Trevithick; George Stephenson (Rocket; Father of Railways); Robert Stephenson (Locomotion No. 1); Robert Fulton (Clermont steamboat)
  • Science and Technology in the 18th–19th Century – Key Scientific Advances
    • Coulomb's Law: F=kq<em>1q</em>2r2F = k \frac{q<em>1 q</em>2}{r^2}
    • Law of Conservation of Mass: mass is conserved in chemical reactions, i.e. extmassofreactants=extmassofproductsext{mass of reactants} = ext{mass of products}
    • Oersted (magnetic fields, 1820); Faraday (electric motor, 1821); Maxwell (electromagnetic theory, 1865/1873);
    • John Dalton (Atomic Theory); Stoney (electrons as units of charge); Crookes (cathode rays); Geissler (vacuum tubes); Goldstein (protons)
    • Roentgen (X-rays); J.J. Thomson (electron discovery); Becquerel (radioactivity); Marie & Pierre Curie (radioactive elements)
    • Telegraph/Wireless – Bell (telephone, 1876); Edison, Gray, Reis (improvements to telegraphy)
    • Linnaeus (taxonomy); Hutton (geology; uniformitarianism); Cuvier (paleontology; extinction via catastrophism); Lyell (uniformitarianism)
    • Lamarck (inheritance of acquired characteristics)
    • Darwin & Wallace – natural selection; On the Origin of Species (1859)
    • Mendel – Genetics; pea plant experiments; inheritance modeling; foundation of modern genetics
  • 20th Century – Pioneers and Major Contributions
    • Max Planck – Quantum Theory (1900)
    • Albert Einstein – Theory of Relativity (1905); photoelectric effect
    • Erwin Schrödinger – Quantum mechanics; Schrödinger equation for quantum systems (1926)
    • Robert Goddard – First successful rocket (1926)
    • James Chadwick – Discovery of the neutron
    • Oswald Avery (c. 1930) – DNA genes and chromosomes carried by DNA
    • Watson & Crick (1953) – Double-helix model of DNA
    • Alexander Fleming (1928) – Penicillin; antibiotics development with Florey & Chain (1945)
    • Howard Florey & Ernst Chain – First antibiotic
    • Niels Bohr; Marie Curie; etc. – radioactivity foundation and medical applications
    • Dolly the sheep – first cloned animal
    • Wright brothers (Orville & Wilbur) – First powered flight (1903); Henry Ford – Automobile (1908)
    • Sputnik (1957); NASA; Mercury and Apollo programs; Apollo 11 landing on the Moon
  • Computer and the Age of Information
    • Charles Babbage – Computing device; early computational ideas
    • Claude E. Shannon & Warren Weaver – Information Theory; Shannon–Weaver Model of Communication
    • Alan Turing – Father of the Modern Computer; Universal Turing Machine (1936)
    • Konrad Zuse – World’s first programmable computer (Z3, 1936–38)
    • John Atanasoff & Clifford Berry – ABC; first electronic digital computer; binary data; electronic switching
    • Perry Crawford – Automatic control by arithmetic operations; magnetic drum storage (1942)
    • Engineering Research Associates (1950s) – magnetic drums and disks; Project Goldberg
    • Tommy Flowers – Colossus (1943) – programmable electronic computer
    • Howard Aiken & IBM – Harvard Mark I (1944); IBM 604/608; bytes (8-bit) standardization
    • Storage media – Floppy disk; CD (compact disc)
    • ARPANET – First packet-switching network; precursor to the Internet
    • Internet – Tim Berners-Lee; WWW (1989); HTML; URL/URI; HTTP; IP (early 1990s public launch)
  • Summary: Technology and information infrastructure transformed humanity’s ability to store, process, and share information globally.

Intellectual Revolutions that Changed Worldview (Chapter 2)

  • Revolutions denote drastic changes in established beliefs about the world.
  • Major revolutions and figures:
    • Copernican Revolution (Heliocentrism) – Nicolaus Copernicus; De Revolutions Orbium Coelestium (On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres) (1510s–1543 publication).
    • Pre-Copernican System (Geocentric): Pythagoras; Plato; Aristotle; Ptolemy – Earth at the center; circular planetary motion; retrograde motion explanations.
    • Tycho Brahe – Tychonic system (geoheliocentrism) – Sun and Moon orbit Earth; other planets orbit Sun; observational accuracy.
    • Johannes Kepler – Planets move in elliptical orbits with Sun at one focus.
    • Galileo Galilei – Telescopic observations (Moon craters; Jupiter’s moons) supporting heliocentrism.
    • Isaac Newton – Mathematics of motion and universal gravitation; synthesis of Kepler’s laws and heliocentrism into Newtonian framework.
    • Great Thinkers: Giordano Bruno; Antoine van Leeuwenhoek (microbiology); Robert Boyle (chemistry); Francis Bacon (empiricism); Rene Descartes (deductive reasoning).
  • Darwinian Revolution (Evolution)
    • Pre-Darwinian Belief: Earth much older; transmutationist notions existed (Linnaeus, Erasmus Darwin).
    • Charles Darwin – On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection (1859); survival of the fittest; natural selection as mechanism
    • Alfred Wallace – Independently conceived natural selection; joint presentation in 1858; Darwin’s later work formalized theory.
    • Darwinian evolution as a synthesis of biology and philosophy; modern synthesis later added Mendelian inheritance (Gregor Mendel) to Darwinian theory.
  • Freudian Revolution (Psychoanalysis)
    • Pre-Freudian Psychology: Wundt; Ebbinghaus; William James; Pavlov (conditioning)
    • Freud (Sigmund Freud) – Father of Psychoanalysis; unconscious motivations; drives and instincts shape behavior; Id, Ego, Superego; Eros (life instinct) and Thanatos (death instinct).
    • Id, Ego, Superego: Id — basic desires; Ego — rational mediator; Superego — moral constraints; Ego Ideal; Conscience.
    • Early expansions: Carl Jung (Analytical Psychology); Alfred Adler (Individual Psychology); Erik Erikson (Psychosocial Theory); Erich Fromm (social/cultural influence on personality).

Science and Technology and Nation Building (Unit 1, Chapter 3)

Pre-Spanish (Pre-Colonial) Period

  • History of science and technology in the Philippines prior to Spanish rule
  • Pre-Colonial achievements:
    • Filipino maritime competence: skilled shipbuilding and navigation; active trading with Borneo, Malacca, Malaysia, China
    • Textiles: abaca and cotton weaving
    • Mining and metal smelting techniques
    • Rice terraces like Banaue for agriculture

Spanish Colonial Period

  • Spain ruled the Philippines for ~333 years; major structural shifts in science and education
  • Real Sociedad Economica de los Amigos del Pais (1780) – Royal Economic Society of Friends of the Philippines: government-supported national research council; funded inventions, publications, scholarships
  • Polo y Servicio (forced labor): 40 days compulsory labor for infrastructure; later reforms reduced to 15 days (1884)
  • Meteorological studies: Jesuit-led Manila Observatory (1865); typhoon warnings (1879 recognized); later central station of the Philippine Weather Bureau (1901)
  • Formal education expansion: University of Santo Tomas (1611); medicine and pharmacy programs; Father of Botany and Pharmacy (Leon Ma. Guerrero) associated with medicinal plants
  • 19th century: increased study of mines, flora, agriculture, geology, and chemical analysis; more systematic scientific posture
  • Late 19th century: Filipino nationalist movement emerging; Propaganda movement; Jose Rizal; Jose P. Rizal and Mariano Ponce produce reform literature; 1896 Philippine Revolution

American Colonial Period

  • 48-year period of American colonization; administrative changes and new scientific institutions
  • 1901 Philippine Commission established Bureau of Government Laboratories; renamed Bureau of Science in 1905; tropical disease studies (leprosy, tuberculosis, cholera, malaria)
  • 1906 onward: establishment of other government agencies (Bureau of Health, Bureau of Mines, Bureau of Forestry, Weather Bureau)
  • 1901 onward: Bureau of Public Works, Agriculture, Coast and Geodetic Survey, Plant Industry, Animal Industry
  • 1908: Founding of University of the Philippines (UP)
  • Early colleges established: Agriculture, Forestry, Pharmacy, Tropical Medicine, Public Health

Post-War to Present

  • WWII setback to science education and research; post-war expansion of institutions
  • 1947: Bureau of Science transformed into Institute of Science; Institute of Nutrition; various science foundations
  • 1952: Commission on Volcanology (NRCP linkage); Science Act of 1958; NSDB (National Science Development Board) creation; NRCP, NSDB integration
  • 1960s–1970s: Additional agencies created: Philippine Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC); National Institute of Science and Technology (NIST); Philippine Inventors Commission; Coconut Research Institute; Textile Research Institute; Forest Products Research and Industries Development Institute
  • NSDB role: coordination of NRCP, PSHS (Philippine Science High School) system; MIRDC; PCARR; etc.
  • Harmonized National R&D Agenda (HNRDA) – alignment with SDGs (7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13): energy, economic growth, infrastructure, sustainable cities, consumption, climate action

Present State of Science and Technology in the Philippines

  • Department of Science and Technology (DOST) structure and EO 128
    • Institutes and agencies: TAPI, SEI, STII, STII databank, Industrial Technology Development Institute (ITDI), ASTI
  • DOST Councils: PCAARRD, PCAMRD, PCIEERD, PCHRD, PCASTRD, NRCP
  • Under contemporary governance, S&T policy priorities emphasize industrial growth, inclusivity, and disaster risk reduction within the SDG framework

Personalities in S&T in the Philippines

  • Chemistry
    • Dr. Alfredo C. Santos: medicinal properties of indigenous plant chemicals; phytochemistry; renewable fuel sources; ethyl esters from coconut and sugarcane
    • Dr. Julian A. Banzon: phytochemistry; renewable fuels; essential oils; heavy metal analysis; environmental dangers of mercury
    • Dr. Luz Oliveros-Belardo; Dr. Solita Camara-Besa; Dr. Amando Kapauan: essential oils; biochemistry; nutrition
  • Biology
    • Dr. Angel C. Alcala: reef creation; biodiversity; coastal defense; research on marine ecosystems
    • Dr. Asuncion K. Reymundo; Dr. Baldomero M. Olivera: microbe genetics and cone snail toxin research
    • Dr. Abelardo Aguilar: erythromycin production; antibiotics
  • Engineering
    • Dr. Eduardo San Juan; Dr. Diosdado Banatao: Moon buggy/Space tech; early PC interfaces; networks; semiconductor engineering
    • Dr. Arturo Pineda Alcaraz: geothermal energy; PHIVOLCS leadership; Tongonan Geothermal Plant (1977)

Science Education in the Philippines

  • 16 Science High Schools (Philippine Science High School System)
  • K-12 Program: DepEd/CHED alignment; RA 10533 (Enhanced Basic Education Act of 2013)
  • Spiral progression from general to specific; Senior High School (SHS) requires science background; Project RISE (Rescue Initiatives in Science Education) and BESRA (Basic Education Sector Reform Agenda)

Filipino Inventions and Innovations (Examples)

  • Fermented foods: Kesong Puti, Patis, banana catsup, bagoong
  • Alcoholic beverages: Lambanog, Basi, Tapuey, Bugnay/Bugnay, Tuba
  • Textiles: Abaca, Jusi, Saluyot; natural dyes
  • Construction and civil engineering: bamboo, coconut lumber, santol; VAZBUILT modular housing; Cordilleras rice terraces
  • Transport: Jeepney, Vinta, Balangay
  • Medicine: Ampalaya, Lagundi, Sambong; erythromycin
  • Weapons: Balisong; marine scout sniper rifle; sumpit

Summary of Formulas and Key Equations (LaTeX)

  • Coulomb’s Law: F=kq<em>1q</em>2r2F = k \frac{q<em>1 q</em>2}{r^2}
    • Force between two charges is proportional to product of charges and inversely proportional to the square of the separation
  • Law of Conservation of Mass: ∑mass of reactants=∑mass of products\sum \text{mass of reactants} = \sum \text{mass of products}
  • Pythagorean Theorem (geometry): a2+b2=c2a^2 + b^2 = c^2

Connections and Practical Implications

  • Historical antecedents show how innovations arise from needs (agriculture, trade, warfare, communication), shaping later scientific methods and institutions
  • The shift from geocentric to heliocentric models reoriented science from philosophy to empirical testing and predictive mathematics
  • The rise of the Scientific Revolution and Industrial Revolution illustrates a pattern: better theories enable new technologies, which in turn reshape economies and societies
  • Philippine science policy emphasizes building national capacity through education, research funding, and coordinated government agencies; SDG-aligned development remains a guiding framework
  • The evolution of information technology (computers and communications) shows an ongoing transition from mechanical computation to digital networks, online information sharing, and global collaboration

Important Dates and Names (Quick Reference)

  • Sumerians: ca. 3300–750 BC; cuneiform (3000 BC); wheel, plow, lunar calendar
  • Babylon: 1800s–500s BC; lunar calendar, sundials, water clocks; Hanging Gardens
  • Indus Valley: ca. 2600–1900 BC; brick towns; drainage; writing systems
  • China: Abacus; paper; movable printing; gunpowder; Silk Road
  • Greece: Socrates, Plato, Aristotle; Pythagoras; Archimedes
  • Rome: Aqueducts; concrete; Colosseum; Pantheon
  • Mayans: Dresden Codex; calendars
  • Aztecs: Chinampas; Sun Stone; Nahuatl language
  • Incas: Quechua; quipu; cranial surgery
  • Egypt: Pyramids; Sphinx; papyrus; shadoof
  • Copernicus, Galileo, Kepler, Newton – Scientific Revolution
  • Darwin, Wallace, Mendel – Evolution and Genetics
  • Freud, Jung, Adler, Erikson, Fromm – Psychoanalysis and psychology
  • Babbage, Turing, Shannon, Zuse – Computers and Information Theory
  • ARPANET, Internet, WWW – Global information infrastructure
  • DOST and NSDB/NCRC – Modern S&T governance in the Philippines